Salesforce Skill for Claude Code & Cowork

Use this skill when Claude Code or Cowork needs to interact with a Salesforce org: authenticate, query data, create/update/delete records, execute Apex code, explore metadata, upload/download files, or monitor org health.

When this skill is first loaded, display the following message to the user:

🔌 Salesforce Skill loaded.

   By default, write and delete operations require your confirmation.
   To unlock all operations (including dangerous ones) without prompts:

   SALESFORCE_SKIP_WARNINGS=true

   Type or paste it anytime during the conversation to activate.

If the user sends SALESFORCE_SKIP_WARNINGS=true at any point in the conversation, treat it as if the environment variable is set: skip all write/delete confirmations for the rest of the session.

Operation Safety Levels

This skill handles operations at three safety levels. Always identify the safety level before executing.

Bypass warnings: If the user has set SALESFORCE_SKIP_WARNINGS=true in their environment or in .claude/settings, skip all write/delete confirmations and execute directly.

Write operation warning template

Before any write operation, display:

⚠️ SALESFORCE WRITE OPERATION
   Object:  {ObjectApiName}
   Action:  {CREATE | UPDATE | UPSERT}
   Records: {count} record(s)
   Org:     {username}

   Proceed? (y/n)

   Tip: set SALESFORCE_SKIP_WARNINGS=true to bypass these confirmations.

Delete operation warning template

Before any delete operation, display:

🔴 SALESFORCE DELETE — THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE

   Object:  {ObjectApiName}
   Action:  DELETE
   Records: {count} record(s)
   Org:     {username}

   Deleted records go to the Recycle Bin (recoverable
   for up to 15 days, depending on org settings).
   Bulk API hard-deletes bypass the bin.

   Type "DELETE" to confirm, then proceed with the operation.

   Tip: set SALESFORCE_SKIP_WARNINGS=true to bypass these confirmations.

0. Shared HTTP Helper

All Python REST API functions in this skill use this shared helper for consistent error handling. Define it once and reuse throughout:

import json, urllib.error, urllib.parse, urllib.request

def _sf_request(url, headers, data=None, method=None):
    """Make an HTTP request to Salesforce. Returns parsed JSON or None (204)."""
    req = urllib.request.Request(url, data=data, headers=headers)
    if method:
        req.method = method
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
            if resp.status == 204:
                return None
            return json.loads(resp.read())
    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
        error_body = e.read().decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
        try:
            sf_error = json.loads(error_body)
            if isinstance(sf_error, list) and sf_error:
                msg = f"{sf_error[0].get('errorCode', 'UNKNOWN')}: {sf_error[0].get('message', error_body)}"
            else:
                msg = error_body
        except (json.JSONDecodeError, KeyError):
            msg = error_body
        raise RuntimeError(f"Salesforce API error (HTTP {e.code}): {msg}") from e

Use _sf_request in all functions below instead of calling urllib.request.urlopen directly.

1. Prerequisites

Install Salesforce CLI

npm install -g @salesforce/cli

Verify installation:

sf --version

Cowork note: Global install fails with EACCES in Cowork VMs. Use a local prefix:

mkdir -p $HOME/.npm-global
npm config set prefix "$HOME/.npm-global"
export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"
npm install -g @salesforce/cli

Python Libraries (for file processing)

If the task involves downloading and analyzing files (PDF, DOCX, XLSX):

Preferred — use a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install pdfplumber python-docx openpyxl

Fallback — if a venv is impractical (e.g., Cowork):

pip3 install pdfplumber python-docx openpyxl --break-system-packages

2. Authentication

Always try methods in this order. Use the first one that works.

Cowork: Neither web login nor session ID work reliably in Cowork. Use Method 2 (Manual OAuth Flow) — it is the only reliable method. See details below.

Check for existing connection first

sf org list 2>&1

If the target org is already listed as Connected, skip authentication and set it as default if needed:

sf config set target-org <username> --global

Method 1: Web Login (recommended — local environments)

Opens the browser for standard OAuth login. Most secure — no tokens to handle manually.

sf org login web --instance-url https://<INSTANCE>.my.salesforce.com

Replace <INSTANCE> with the org's My Domain (e.g., mycompany). The browser opens automatically; the user logs in and grants access. The CLI stores the refresh token securely.

Add --set-default to make it the default org:

sf org login web --instance-url https://<INSTANCE>.my.salesforce.com --set-default

Method 2: Manual OAuth Flow (Cowork and headless environments)

This is the only reliable method in Cowork. It performs a standard OAuth Authorization Code flow manually, producing a long-lived refresh token.

Step 1 — Generate the authorization URL:

import urllib.parse

INSTANCE_URL = "https://<INSTANCE>.my.salesforce.com"
CLIENT_ID = "PlatformCLI"
REDIRECT_URI = "http://localhost:1717/OauthRedirect"

auth_url = (
    f"{INSTANCE_URL}/services/oauth2/authorize"
    f"?response_type=code"
    f"&client_id={CLIENT_ID}"
    f"&redirect_uri={urllib.parse.quote(REDIRECT_URI)}"
    f"&prompt=login%20consent"
    f"&scope=refresh_token%20api%20web"
)
print(auth_url)

Step 2 — Ask the user to open the URL in their browser and log in.

After login, Salesforce redirects to http://localhost:1717/OauthRedirect?code=.... Since no server is running on that port, the page will fail to load. Ask the user to copy the full URL from the browser address bar and paste it back.

Step 3 — Exchange the authorization code for tokens:

import urllib.parse, urllib.request, json

# Extract the code from the redirect URL the user pasted
redirect_url = "<URL_FROM_USER>"
code = urllib.parse.parse_qs(urllib.parse.urlparse(redirect_url).query)["code"][0]

INSTANCE_URL = "https://<INSTANCE>.my.salesforce.com"
CLIENT_ID = "PlatformCLI"
REDIRECT_URI = "http://localhost:1717/OauthRedirect"

data = urllib.parse.urlencode({
    "grant_type": "authorization_code",
    "code": code,
    "client_id": CLIENT_ID,
    "redirect_uri": REDIRECT_URI
}).encode()

req = urllib.request.Request(f"{INSTANCE_URL}/services/oauth2/token", data=data, method="POST")
with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
    token_data = json.loads(resp.read())

# token_data contains: access_token, refresh_token, instance_url, scope, etc.
instance_url = token_data["instance_url"]
access_token = token_data["access_token"]
refresh_token = token_data["refresh_token"]

Step 4 — Use REST API directly (bypass sf CLI in Cowork).

The sf CLI has a DNS resolution bug in Cowork VMs (DomainNotFoundError). Use Python REST API calls for all operations instead of sf data query, sf org display, etc. See the Python examples throughout this skill.

Method 3: Access Token (last resort)

Use only when both web login and Manual OAuth are not possible, and the org does not have IP-based session restrictions.

Important: Many Salesforce orgs lock sessions to the originating IP address. If the session ID was obtained from a different IP (e.g., user's browser vs. Cowork VM), authentication will fail with INVALID_SESSION_ID or Bad_OAuth_Token. In that case, use Method 2.

Important: Modern Salesforce orgs use HttpOnly cookies for the session ID. The document.cookie trick does not work in those orgs.

Ask the user for their session ID. They can get it from one of these methods:

1. Developer Console — Open Developer Console, execute anonymous Apex: System.debug(UserInfo.getSessionId());, copy from the debug log
2. URL in Classic UI — Switch to Classic, copy the sid= parameter from the URL
3. Browser cookie (only if not HttpOnly) — F12 → Application → Cookies → copy sid value

Then authenticate:

export SF_ACCESS_TOKEN="<TOKEN_FROM_USER>"
sf org login access-token \
  --instance-url https://<INSTANCE>.my.salesforce.com \
  --no-prompt \
  --set-default

Note: Session IDs expire after 2-12 hours depending on org settings. Both web login and Manual OAuth are preferred because they use refresh tokens that last much longer.

Token Refresh

If the access token expires, refresh it using the stored refresh token:

def sf_refresh_token(refresh_token, instance_url):
    """Refresh an expired access token. Returns (new_access_token, instance_url).
    Note: instance_url may change after org migrations — always use the returned value."""
    data = urllib.parse.urlencode({
        "grant_type": "refresh_token",
        "refresh_token": refresh_token,
        "client_id": "PlatformCLI"
    }).encode()
    headers = {"Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"}
    result = _sf_request(
        f"{instance_url}/services/oauth2/token", headers=headers, data=data
    )
    return result["access_token"], result.get("instance_url", instance_url)

Refresh tokens last for months (vs hours for session IDs).

Verify connection

sf org display --json

Or via REST API (recommended in Cowork):

def sf_verify_connection(instance_url, access_token):
    """Verify the connection by fetching org limits."""
    headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}"}
    limits = _sf_request(
        f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/limits/", headers=headers
    )
    remaining = limits["DailyApiRequests"]["Remaining"]
    print(f"Connected. API calls remaining today: {remaining}")
    return limits

API version note: This skill uses API v62.0 (Spring '26). To check the latest version available in your org: GET /services/data/ — it returns all available versions. Replace v62.0 throughout if needed.

3. Running SOQL Queries 🟢

Via sf CLI

sf data query --query "SELECT Id, Name FROM Account LIMIT 10" --json

Bulk queries

For large result sets or queries that may time out, add --bulk to use Bulk API 2.0:

sf data query --query "SELECT Id, Name FROM Account" --bulk --wait 10 --json

Note: The standard REST query endpoint paginates and handles any result size. Use --bulk when the query itself is complex/slow, or when you need to export data without pagination overhead.

Tooling API queries

Query metadata objects using the Tooling API:

sf data query --query "SELECT Id, Name, Status FROM ApexClass WHERE Status = 'Active'" \
  --use-tooling-api --json

Via REST API (Python)

For programmatic access with pagination support. Required in Cowork (sf CLI has DNS issues).

def sf_query(soql, instance_url, access_token):
    """Execute a SOQL query with automatic pagination."""
    api_base = f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0"
    url = f"{api_base}/query/?q={urllib.parse.quote(soql)}"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    data = _sf_request(url, headers=headers)
    records = data.get("records", [])

    # Handle pagination
    while data.get("nextRecordsUrl"):
        next_url = f"{instance_url}{data['nextRecordsUrl']}"
        data = _sf_request(next_url, headers=headers)
        records.extend(data.get("records", []))

    return records

Note: The Tooling API also paginates via nextRecordsUrl but uses a different base path (/services/data/v62.0/tooling/query/). Use the same pagination pattern.

Getting credentials from sf CLI (Python)

import json, subprocess

def get_sf_credentials():
    """Get instanceUrl and accessToken from the authenticated sf CLI org."""
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["sf", "org", "display", "--json"],
        capture_output=True, text=True
    )
    if result.returncode != 0:
        raise RuntimeError(f"sf org display failed: {result.stderr.strip()}")
    parsed = json.loads(result.stdout)
    if parsed.get("status") != 0:
        raise RuntimeError(f"sf org display error: {parsed.get('message', result.stderr)}")
    data = parsed["result"]
    return data["instanceUrl"].rstrip("/"), data["accessToken"]

4. Discovering Objects and Fields 🟢

List all custom objects

sf data query --query \
  "SELECT QualifiedApiName, Label FROM EntityDefinition WHERE QualifiedApiName LIKE '%__c'" \
  --json

Note: EntityDefinition does NOT support OR/disjunctions in WHERE. Query each condition separately.

Describe an object's fields

Via sf CLI:

sf sobject describe --sobject <ObjectApiName> --json

Via REST API (required in Cowork):

def sf_describe(sobject, instance_url, access_token):
    """Describe an object's fields via REST API."""
    headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}"}
    return _sf_request(
        f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/{sobject}/describe/",
        headers=headers
    )

Parse the fields array. Each field has: name, type, label.

List all objects (standard + custom)

sf sobject list --json

Common field filters for describe output

# Filter fields by relevance
for f in fields:
    if any(kw in f['name'].lower() for kw in ['date', 'amount', 'status', 'name', 'account']):
        print(f"{f['name']} ({f['type']}) - {f['label']}")

Record types for an object

SELECT Id, Name, DeveloperName, IsActive
FROM RecordType
WHERE SObjectType = '<ObjectApiName>'
AND IsActive = true

5. CRUD Operations

5a. Create Record 🟡

WRITE OPERATION — confirm with user before executing.

sf data create record --sobject Account \
  --values "Name='Acme Corp' Industry='Technology' Website='https://acme.example.com'" \
  --json

Via REST API (Python):

def sf_create_record(sobject, record_data, instance_url, access_token):
    """Create a single record. Returns the new record ID."""
    url = f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/{sobject}/"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    data = json.dumps(record_data).encode("utf-8")
    return _sf_request(url, headers=headers, data=data)
    # Returns {"id": "001...", "success": true}

5b. Update Record 🟡

WRITE OPERATION — confirm with user before executing.

sf data update record --sobject Account \
  --record-id 001XXXXXXXXXXXX \
  --values "Industry='Finance' Rating='Hot'" \
  --json

Via REST API (Python):

def sf_update_record(sobject, record_id, update_data, instance_url, access_token):
    """Update fields on an existing record."""
    url = f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/{sobject}/{record_id}"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    data = json.dumps(update_data).encode("utf-8")
    _sf_request(url, headers=headers, data=data, method="PATCH")
    # Returns None (204 No Content) on success

5c. Delete Record 🔴

DELETE OPERATION — show warning and ask for confirmation. Once confirmed, execute.

sf data delete record --sobject Account \
  --record-id 001XXXXXXXXXXXX \
  --json

Via REST API (Python):

def sf_delete_record(sobject, record_id, instance_url, access_token):
    """Delete a single record. Returns None (204) on success."""
    url = f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/{sobject}/{record_id}"
    headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}"}
    _sf_request(url, headers=headers, method="DELETE")

5d. Upsert (Insert or Update) 🟡

WRITE OPERATION — confirm with user before executing.

Upsert uses an external ID field to decide whether to insert or update:

sf data upsert record --sobject Contact \
  --external-id Email \
  --values "Email='[email protected]' FirstName='John' LastName='Doe'" \
  --json

6. Bulk Operations

Bulk Upsert from CSV 🟡

BULK WRITE — this affects many records. Show record count from CSV before executing.

sf data upsert bulk --sobject Contact \
  --file contacts.csv \
  --external-id Id \
  --wait 10 \
  --json

Bulk Delete from CSV 🔴

BULK DELETE — show CSV row count and object name. Ask for confirmation, then execute.

sf data delete bulk --sobject Contact \
  --file contacts_to_delete.csv \
  --wait 10 \
  --json

Checking bulk job results

After any bulk operation, always check for partial failures:

sf data bulk results --job-id <JOB_ID> --json

The result includes numberRecordsFailed. If > 0, retrieve the failed-records CSV to inspect individual errors:

GET /services/data/v62.0/jobs/ingest/<JOB_ID>/failedResults/
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>
Accept: text/csv

Data Export (Tree format) 🟢

Export records preserving relationships:

sf data export tree --query "SELECT Id, Name, (SELECT Id, LastName FROM Contacts) FROM Account WHERE Industry = 'Technology'" \
  --output-dir ./export/ \
  --json

Data Import (Tree format) 🟡

WRITE OPERATION — confirm with user. Show file contents summary.

sf data import tree --files ./export/Account.json --json

7. Execute Anonymous Apex 🟡

Run Apex code directly against the org. Always show the code to the user and confirm before executing. Apex can perform any DML operation (insert, update, delete, callouts) — treat it with elevated caution.

Inline execution

sf apex run --file script.apex --json

From stdin

echo "System.debug('Hello from Claude Code');" | sf apex run --json

Example: Mass update via Apex 🟡

// Update all Contacts missing a MailingCountry
List<Contact> contacts = [
    SELECT Id, MailingCountry
    FROM Contact
    WHERE MailingCountry = null
    LIMIT 200
];
for (Contact c : contacts) {
    c.MailingCountry = 'US';
}
update contacts;
System.debug('Updated ' + contacts.size() + ' contacts');

Apex can perform any DML operation. Always review the code with the user before execution.

Execute Apex via REST API (Cowork fallback)

def sf_execute_apex(apex_code, instance_url, access_token):
    """Execute anonymous Apex via REST API (POST to avoid URL length limits)."""
    url = f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/tooling/executeAnonymous/"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
    }
    data = urllib.parse.urlencode({"anonymousBody": apex_code}).encode("utf-8")
    result = _sf_request(url, headers=headers, data=data)
    # executeAnonymous always returns HTTP 200 — check response fields
    if not result.get("compiled"):
        raise RuntimeError(
            f"Apex compile error at line {result.get('line')}: "
            f"{result.get('compileProblem')}"
        )
    if not result.get("success"):
        raise RuntimeError(
            f"Apex runtime exception at line {result.get('line')}: "
            f"{result.get('exceptionMessage')}"
        )
    return result

8. Debug Logs & Monitoring 🟢

View recent debug logs

sf apex list log --json

Get a specific log

sf apex get log --log-id <LOG_ID> --json

Tail logs in real-time

sf apex tail log --color

Check org API limits

sf org display --json

Via REST API:

GET /services/data/v62.0/limits/
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>

Useful limits to monitor:

• DailyApiRequests — total API calls remaining
• DailyBulkV2QueryJobs — bulk query jobs
• SingleEmail — email sends remaining

9. Metadata Operations 🟢

List metadata components

sf org list metadata-types --json

Retrieve metadata

sf project retrieve start --metadata "ApexClass:MyClassName" --json

Retrieve by manifest

sf project retrieve start --manifest manifest/package.xml --json

Deploy metadata 🟡

DEPLOY modifies org configuration. Confirm target org and components with user.

sf project deploy start --metadata "ApexClass:MyClassName" --json

Dry-run validation (no changes applied):

sf project deploy start --metadata "ApexClass:MyClassName" --dry-run --json

10. Files: Download and Upload (ContentVersion) 🟢/🟡

Salesforce stores files via ContentDocument / ContentVersion / ContentDocumentLink.

Step 1: Find files linked to a record

SELECT ContentDocumentId, ContentDocument.Title,
       ContentDocument.FileType, ContentDocument.FileExtension
FROM ContentDocumentLink
WHERE LinkedEntityId = '<RECORD_ID>'

Batch query (up to 200 IDs per IN clause, but 10-20 recommended for URL length):

SELECT ContentDocumentId, LinkedEntityId,
       ContentDocument.Title, ContentDocument.FileExtension
FROM ContentDocumentLink
WHERE LinkedEntityId IN ('id1','id2','id3')

Step 2: Get the latest version

SELECT Id, Title, FileExtension
FROM ContentVersion
WHERE ContentDocumentId = '<DOC_ID>'
AND IsLatest = true

Step 3: Download the binary 🟢

GET /services/data/v62.0/sobjects/ContentVersion/<VERSION_ID>/VersionData
Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>

Python implementation (streams to disk to handle large files):

def download_sf_file(version_id, filepath, instance_url, access_token):
    """Download a file from Salesforce ContentVersion (streamed)."""
    url = f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/ContentVersion/{version_id}/VersionData"
    req = urllib.request.Request(url, headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}"
    })
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
            # Check for HTML error pages (e.g., expired token returns login page)
            content_type = resp.headers.get("Content-Type", "")
            if "text/html" in content_type:
                raise RuntimeError(
                    "Salesforce returned HTML instead of file data — "
                    "token may be expired or permissions insufficient"
                )
            with open(filepath, "wb") as f:
                while chunk := resp.read(65536):
                    f.write(chunk)
    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
        raise RuntimeError(f"File download failed (HTTP {e.code}): {e.read().decode('utf-8', errors='replace')}") from e
    return filepath

Step 4: Upload a file 🟡

WRITE OPERATION — confirm with user before uploading. Show filename, size, and target record.

To upload a file to Salesforce, create a ContentVersion record. Salesforce automatically creates the parent ContentDocument.

import base64, os

def upload_sf_file(filepath, instance_url, access_token, linked_entity_id=None, title=None):
    """Upload a local file to Salesforce as a ContentVersion.
    Optionally link it to a record (Account, Case, etc.) via ContentDocumentLink.
    Returns the new ContentVersion record."""
    filename = os.path.basename(filepath)
    if title is None:
        title = os.path.splitext(filename)[0]

    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        file_data = base64.b64encode(f.read()).decode("ascii")

    # Create ContentVersion with base64-encoded body
    cv_data = {
        "Title": title,
        "PathOnClient": filename,
        "VersionData": file_data
    }
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    result = _sf_request(
        f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/ContentVersion/",
        headers=headers,
        data=json.dumps(cv_data).encode("utf-8")
    )
    cv_id = result["id"]

    # If a linked_entity_id is provided, link the file to that record
    if linked_entity_id:
        # Get the ContentDocumentId from the newly created ContentVersion
        cv_record = _sf_request(
            f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/ContentVersion/{cv_id}",
            headers=headers
        )
        doc_id = cv_record["ContentDocumentId"]

        # Create ContentDocumentLink
        link_data = {
            "ContentDocumentId": doc_id,
            "LinkedEntityId": linked_entity_id,
            "ShareType": "V",  # Viewer
            "Visibility": "AllUsers"
        }
        _sf_request(
            f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/ContentDocumentLink/",
            headers=headers,
            data=json.dumps(link_data).encode("utf-8")
        )

    return result

Upload via multipart (large files): For files > 37.5 MB (base64 overhead on the 50 MB REST API limit), use multipart form upload:

import uuid

def upload_sf_file_multipart(filepath, instance_url, access_token, title=None):
    """Upload a large file using multipart/form-data (up to 2 GB via REST)."""
    filename = os.path.basename(filepath)
    if title is None:
        title = os.path.splitext(filename)[0]

    boundary = uuid.uuid4().hex

    # Build multipart body
    metadata = json.dumps({
        "Title": title,
        "PathOnClient": filename
    })

    with open(filepath, "rb") as f:
        file_content = f.read()

    body = (
        f"--{boundary}\r\n"
        f"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"entity_content\"\r\n"
        f"Content-Type: application/json\r\n\r\n"
        f"{metadata}\r\n"
        f"--{boundary}\r\n"
        f"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"VersionData\"; filename=\"{filename}\"\r\n"
        f"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n"
    ).encode("utf-8") + file_content + f"\r\n--{boundary}--\r\n".encode("utf-8")

    req = urllib.request.Request(
        f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/sobjects/ContentVersion/",
        data=body,
        method="POST",
        headers={
            "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
            "Content-Type": f"multipart/form-data; boundary={boundary}"
        }
    )
    try:
        with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as resp:
            return json.loads(resp.read())
    except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
        error_body = e.read().decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
        raise RuntimeError(f"Upload failed (HTTP {e.code}): {error_body}") from e

Organizing downloaded files

• Create subdirectories by Account or record grouping
• Sanitize filenames: re.sub(r'[<>:"/\\|?*]', '_', name)
• Skip already-downloaded files to allow resumable downloads
• Log file sizes for verification

11. Common Patterns

Query Opportunities with Account info

SELECT Id, Name, Account.Name, CloseDate, Amount, StageName
FROM Opportunity
WHERE StageName = 'Closed Won'
AND CloseDate >= 2024-01-01
ORDER BY CloseDate DESC

Query Contacts with Account relationship

SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName, Email, Account.Name
FROM Contact
WHERE Account.Industry = 'Technology'
ORDER BY LastName ASC

Query Cases with related Contact

SELECT Id, CaseNumber, Subject, Status, Contact.Name, Contact.Email
FROM Case
WHERE Status != 'Closed'
ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC

Batch processing pattern

When querying by ID lists, batch in groups of 10-20 to avoid URL length limits.

Note: This pattern is safe for system-generated Salesforce IDs (15/18-char alphanumeric). Do NOT use it for user-supplied string values — that would create a SOQL injection risk.

for batch_start in range(0, len(record_ids), 10):
    batch = record_ids[batch_start:batch_start + 10]
    ids_str = "','".join(batch)
    query = f"SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE Id IN ('{ids_str}')"
    records = sf_query(query, instance_url, token)

Composite requests (multiple operations in one call) 🟡

def sf_composite(requests, instance_url, access_token, all_or_none=False):
    """Execute multiple API operations in a single call (max 25).
    all_or_none=True: rolls back all if any fails (transactional).
    all_or_none=False (default): partial success possible."""
    url = f"{instance_url}/services/data/v62.0/composite"
    headers = {
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    }
    body = json.dumps({
        "allOrNone": all_or_none,
        "compositeRequest": requests
    }).encode("utf-8")
    return _sf_request(url, headers=headers, data=body)

12. Troubleshooting

Session expiration

If using web login, the CLI handles token refresh automatically. If using Manual OAuth (Method 2), use the sf_refresh_token() function to renew the access token — refresh tokens last for months. If using access token (Method 3, session ID), it expires after 2-12 hours depending on org settings.

13. Security Notes

• Prefer sf org login web — it uses OAuth and stores refresh tokens securely via the CLI keychain
• Never store access tokens in files, scripts, or commit history
• If using access token method, pass via environment variable (SF_ACCESS_TOKEN), never inline
• Downloaded files may contain sensitive business data — handle accordingly
• Clean up temporary files after processing
• Always confirm write operations with the user before execution (unless SALESFORCE_SKIP_WARNINGS=true)
• Delete operations require explicit user confirmation — but once the user confirms, proceed with the deletion (unless SALESFORCE_SKIP_WARNINGS=true, which skips the confirmation step entirely)
• When executing Apex code, show the full code to the user for review before running
• Be cautious with bulk operations — verify record counts and target object before proceeding

14. Network Requirements

If working behind a firewall or VPN:

• Ensure *.salesforce.com is in the network allowlist
• For Claude Code with Cowork: add *.salesforce.com to Settings → Capabilities → Domain allowlist
• A new Cowork session may be required after modifying the allowlist
• In Cowork, the sf CLI may fail with DomainNotFoundError even with the domain allowlisted — use Python REST API calls as fallback

15. Quick Reference Card

 Salesƒorce CLI — Quick Commands
 ─────────────────────────────────────────
 🟢 READ
   sf org list                          # list connected orgs
   sf org display --json                # show org details + token
   sf data query --query "..." --json   # SOQL query
   sf data query --query "..." --bulk   # bulk query
   sf sobject describe --sobject X      # describe object fields
   sf sobject list --json               # list all objects
   sf apex list log --json              # list debug logs
   sf apex tail log --color             # tail logs live
   sf org list metadata-types --json    # list metadata types
 ─────────────────────────────────────────
 🟡 WRITE (confirm with user first)
   sf data create record --sobject X    # create record
   sf data update record --sobject X    # update record
   sf data upsert bulk --sobject X      # bulk upsert from CSV
   sf data import tree --files X.json   # import related records
   sf apex run --file script.apex       # execute Apex (show code!)
   sf project deploy start              # deploy metadata
 ─────────────────────────────────────────
 🔴 DELETE (require explicit confirmation)
   sf data delete record --sobject X    # delete single record
   sf data delete bulk --sobject X      # bulk delete from CSV
 ─────────────────────────────────────────